New Book by Dr. Christopher Metzler, Georgetown Associate Dean explores the impact of race on the 20The race card is central to the 2008 presedential election. This provactive new book by Georgetown's Christopher Metzler is the first t he first to explore race and the elections.

August 01, 2008 (Washington, D.C.) – For the first time in American history, a major political party will nominate a black man its presidential candidate. America, and in fact much of the world is abuzz about what the election of Barack Obama means about America’s preoccupation with race. Dr. Christopher J. Metzler, Associate Dean at Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies puts Obama’s nomination in perspective by exploring America’s past and not so recent history with race. Metzler is a global scholar and thought leader in the areas of human rights, civil rights, Critical Race Theory, Corporate Social Responsibility, diversity, equity and Human Resources.

In The Construction and Rearticulatation of Race in a “post-racial America” published this week he takes a hard look at the racial politics of the present election by analyzing the roles of the candidates and the media.
Part heaving hitting analysis and part reflection on how America has constructed and rearticulated race, the book begins with slavery and its role in the creation of race, critiques the role of the NAACP in the civil rights movement, exposes some of its most significant missteps in the fight for civil rights and offers a useful comparison between civil and human rights. Metzler deftly exposes the racial thinking that has “become as American as motherhood and apple pie.”

He uses the racial thinking rubric to explain why and how the media has become so fascinated with the Obama presidency. He also uses that rubric to expose how both McCain and Obama will use racial thinking as part of their electoral strategy. The question he poses is which one will make it work for him.

As he relates the story of race in America, Metzler also offers a stinging critique of rap music and its scourge on the black community. He does this by comparing the racial stereotypes of the Jim Crow era and how rap music has repackaged those images for profit with wanton abandon. According to the book, "rap is the new crack.” Metzler said, "Some argue that reparations should be paid for slavery. Where are the reparations for rap music?”

According to Metzler, an element of insecurity about issues of race is what propels the need to hold onto racialized thinking. "The issue of race and racism in America is a central tenant in this election whether Obama and McCain want to admit it or not," he writes, “the election of Barack Obama will not simply make racism go away as some pretend that it will.” He also exposes the absurdity of the term” post-racial America” as an effort by liberals and the American media to avoid discussing the prominence of race.
As he writes in the book: "Modern-day white supremacy is maintained not through racial invective and subordinative violence; it is instead maintained through the symbiotic and codependent relationship of colorblindness, class primacy and integrationist ideology.”

Metzler skillfully explains and deconstructs the state of race in modern day America and